The invention relates generally to a technique of measuring blood viscosity, and more particularly to a non-invasive technique of measuring blood viscosity using an arterial transmission line model.
Blood viscosity is an important physiological parameter for evaluating the condition of a patient. For example, blood viscosity is indicative of the hematocrit level of the patient. It is also helpful in predicting diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, infections, and infarctions. Additionally, it is of interest to monitor blood viscosity in the patient receiving antiplatelet drugs. Traditional techniques for ex-vivo measurement of blood viscosity employ a tube viscometer or a rotational viscometer. However, these techniques require drawing blood from the patient by making an incision into the patient's skin. This invasive procedure is complicated, painful, and therefore undesirable to the patient.
Certain non-invasive techniques for measurement of blood viscosity have been proposed. These techniques estimate the blood viscosity from the blood flow profile measured by an ultrasound flow meter. However, these techniques may not provide accurate measurement of the blood viscosity, as the parameters governing the viscosity measurement are themselves susceptible to measurement errors on account of various factors such as changes in the physiological state of the patient, elastic nature of the arterial, technique employed to measure the respective parameter, and so forth.
It is therefore desirable to provide a more accurate and non-invasive blood viscosity measurement technique.